Good morning. Uh, if you haven't
seen the building, you might want to check it out before you
leave. Um, the drywall is all finished and I guess they're
going to start texturing it, um, this week. So drywall guys
told me yesterday that they should be finished. They should be finished
on Wednesday. And Brian told me this morning
that the siding guys are supposed to start this Wednesday. So,
uh, The weather doesn't change things. We had, just to give you an update,
we had enough money saved up to get to basically where we
are now. Everything that we've done up till now is paid for.
We probably have enough money in the building account to cover
one more draw. And then after that, we're gonna
have to borrow some money. So it looks like we'll probably
have to borrow maybe up to $200,000 to finish the job. We've already
arranged that, but I wanted you to know about it. If you were
planning on giving, that'll help us from having to borrow more
money. So that's kind of where we are
on that. We do not have a mortgage at
all on this property, so when everything's said and done, parking
lots are all finished, the buildings are all finished, if we have
a $200,000 mortgage, on all this property together, I think we
can handle that. That's probably less mortgage
than half the folks in here have on their own homes. But that's
where we are. Take your bulletin, if you will. This whole social distancing
and mask thing, we're just trying to be careful. The first Sunday
we came back, People were kind of careless. I don't know where
this is going any more than you do or any more than anybody else
does. Hopefully we'll be able to make some adjustments soon
on that. I know there's a couple chairs
up here if you need a place to sit. All right, you have your bulletin
on the back. Tom's going to come lead us in
that him, but I wanted to read the first words of this him.
Where with shall we approach the Lord? How are we going to
come into the presence of a holy God and bow before his throne? By trusting in his faithful word. And pleading Christ. alone. Now the scripture says
that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the word and that he was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And so we know that Christ Jesus
the Lord is the living word. This book is the written word. And in the volume of the book,
it is written of me. We don't separate the written
word from the living word. Um, and here's our hope. God
said, my word will not return on to me. Boyd. it will accomplish
the purpose for which I sent it. And we have great hope in
knowing that when we preach the gospel, it will accomplish the
purpose for which God sends that gospel in giving faith to his
people and hardening the hearts of the reprobate. But we also
believe that when the Lord Jesus Christ returned to his father
in glory, He accomplished the purpose for which he was sent
and took with him the names of those for whom he lived and died.
That's the Christ that we worship. And God gave us the spirit to
worship him by his spirit and according to the truth of his
gospel. So let's stand together. Tom, you come please lead us
in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. Wherewith shall we approach the
Lord, And bow before His throne, By trusting in His faithful word,
And pleading Christ alone? The blood, thy righteousness
and love of Jesus will we plead. He lives within the veil above
for us to intercede. Sure ground and sure foundation in his dear name. Herein we every blessing view
and every favor claim. Then let his name forever be
to us supremely dear. Our only all-prevailing plea
for all our hope is there. Please be seated. Good morning. Second, Timothy. Chapter one and verse one, we
call to worship. Paul had written a letter to
Timothy concerning faith. That's the subject that he's
discussing right now. And remember, like Greg said,
this is the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the hand of Paul.
This is not any of Paul's personal opinion. And he said to Timothy
in verse six, therefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou
stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on
of my hands. For God hath not given us the
spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. But be thou a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. The first
thing you wonder, we're here this morning, can you stir up
the gift that is in you? That's faith. Can you stir up
faith? You most certainly can. When
I walk in that door of that church over there, my heart lifts when
I see people I love all around here. And then Greg gets up here
and confirms what I believe. And when he does, and knowing
that the Lord Jesus Christ is here with us right now, because
there's more than two or three gathered here, He'll be in the
midst of us. My faith is stirred up. You'll get that only in church. That's what the church is for.
To come up here, to hear the spoken word, to be around your
brothers and sisters in Christ, to be confirmed in what you believe,
to get you ready to go back out into the world and be separate
from the world and in Christ. That's what it would mean to
stir up your faith. Because God has given us the
spirit of power. We have the power to discern
between the truth and a lie. And he's given us love. We love
one another without question. And of a sound mind. You have to have a sound mind
to understand the scriptures. But then the Holy Spirit said
something that to me is really surprising. Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Nobody said, oh, I'm ashamed
of what God does. No, they don't. There's a man
that's been on television for a couple of weeks now that tells
you God wants you to be saved. And then he gives you 287 things
you have to do to be saved. You know as well as I do, you
don't have to do anything to be saved. This is an excuse. That's what a shame is. The original sin. Hast thou eaten
of the tree whereof I commanded thee, thou shalt not eat of it.
Original excuse. The woman that thou gavest to
be with me, she did give me and I did eat. Free will is an excuse
for verse 9. They'll tell you that God loves
everybody in the world, won't save everybody. He loves us all
with the same love. And if you go to hell, it's your
fault for not receiving Jesus. But the truth, the bare, unvarnished,
unashamed truth is this. People are in hell because God
never intended to save them. I told a man that, and he said,
why would God make a vessel fitted for destruction? I said, because
He's God. God does what He wants to. So people, free will people,
make an excuse for a God they see as weak and ineffective.
He'd like to save you, but He can't. You want your faith stirred
up, come up here where Greg preaches the truth about salvation. That we're dead in trespasses
and sin, and when God calls us, verse 9, who hath saved us first. First saved. Then called, we're
like Lazarus in a tomb. When the Lord Jesus Christ called
me by name, I came forth from the deadness of my sin, bound
hand and foot. God does everything. We don't apologize. We're not
ashamed of that. But along with that comes an
affliction. Your family don't want to hear
it. Your friends don't want to hear it. The world at large don't
want to hear it. You have to come here to church
to hear it. We're all brothers and sisters in the Lord. Our
faith comes together in this church by the preaching of the
word. Verse nine, who have saved us and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. That's why we're here this morning
to worship an almighty God. Father, we come before you this
morning, Father, knowing that you are God, Father, that we're
sinners and you've called us from our deadness in sin, Father,
for our trespasses. You've caused us to love you,
Father. You've covered us with the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a sound mind, Father. We know that the God that created
the heaven, the universe, and everything in between will not
leave anything as important as eternal destiny in our hands.
You do everything for us, Father, that we can't do for ourselves.
We thank you, Father, for joining us to this body, for placing
us under Greg's ministry, putting us in a time in history where
we are now. We ask that you lift up our faith,
Father, cause us to not be afraid, to know that we're given the
spirit of power, Father, and love for one another, and a sound
mind. We ask these things in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Number 158 from the hardback
timbrel, 158. Let's all stand together once
again, 158. Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, With all thy quickening powers,
Kindle a flame of sacred love In these cold hearts of ours. Look how we grovel here below,
Fond of these earthly toys, our souls, how heavily they go. To reach eternal joys. In vain we tune our formal songs. In vain we strive to rise. Hosanna's languish on our tongues. and our devotion dies. Dear Lord, and shall At this poor dying rate Our love
so faint, so cold to Thee And Thine to us so great Come Holy
Spirit, heavenly dove With all thy quickening powers, come shed
abroad the Savior's love, and that shall kindle ours. Please be seated. Caleb Hickman's
going to bring a special music now. If you'd like to open your Bibles
to Psalm 119. Verse 33 through 40. Says teach me, oh Lord, the way
of thy statutes. And I shall keep it until the
end. Give me understanding and I shall
keep the law. Yeah, I shall observe it with
my whole heart. Make me to go. in the path of
thy commandments, for therein do I delight. Incline my heart
unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine
eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way. Establish thy word unto thy servant,
who is devoted to thy fear. Turn away my reproach, which
I fear, for thy judgments are good. Behold, I have longed after
thy precepts. Quicken me in thy righteousness.
? Teach me, O Lord ? The way of
thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the
end. Give me understanding and I shall
keep Thy law, yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of
Thy commandments, for therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies,
and not to Covetousness, turn away mine eyes from beholding
vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way. Establish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. Turn away my reproach, which
I fear, for thy judgments are good. Behold, I have longed after Thy
precepts, quicken me in Thy righteousness. Thank you, Caleb. Will you open
your Bibles with me to Psalm 118, Psalm 118. I've titled this message a cry
for help. A cry for help. Now in the English
language we use that word help at least in two different ways.
We might say to somebody, could you give me a hand? Could you
help me? Could you assist me? You know,
between the two of us, we could get this done a little quicker
and easier if you'll just give me some help. And then the other way in which
we use this word help is help. Save me. Deliver me. I'm in distress. I'm going to
die if somebody doesn't help me. That's the way I want us
to look at this word, because that's the meaning of it in the
scriptures. A cry for help. Let the religious world think
that God is here to assist them in their salvation. Give them
a hand. Cooperate with them so it'll
be a little easier if we work together. We don't believe that. We're like, We're like Peter
drowning in the water. And he's going down for the last
time and he cries, Lord, save me, help me. And immediately
the Lord reached out his hand and drew him back into the boat.
So my question for you and for me this morning is. Do you need
help? Because no one's ever cried to
God for help. that hadn't been heard. Now let
me ask you a question, another question. Because just like those
verses that Caleb just sang in Psalm 119, this cry for help
is to be understood first and foremost as a cry of the Lord
Jesus Christ to his father. When he cried from the cross
and he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? The Lord is crying out in agony
and in distress. Father, if you don't save me,
if you don't help me, if you don't deliver me, if you don't
raise me from the dead, and receive me back into glory. I've got
no hope. Do you believe that the father
answered that prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ? You believe he
did? You know he did, didn't he? Faith in Christ is believing
that the only reason God would answer your cry for help is for
you to be found in Him. Let me repeat that. If God Almighty
answered the cry of the Lord Jesus Christ, He answered it
because He cried in perfect faith, He answered it because He had
obligated the Father to hear His cry, if we could say it that
way, because of His faithfulness to the law, and to the purpose
of God and he knew that when he cried out to God, God would
answer. Now, you and I have no guarantee
that our cries are sincere or sincere enough or that they are
sufficient for God to hear us unless Unless we come before
the Father looking in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ and believing
that because God heard his cry, therefore God will hear my cry
for Christ's sake. That's what faith is. Faith is
not believing that God's going to hear your cry because of the
sincerity of your heart or because of the sorrow that you're experiencing
or because of anything else that you've done. Faith is believing
that God will hear your cry because he heard his son's cry. Now you
remember, what is it that we cry for help with? could say it that way, what is
it, what is, what is that we need help for? In Mark chapter 9 verse 23 and
24, I've referenced this a few times recently, so impressed
me that this man brings his son to the disciples and his son
was possessed with a demon. and the demon would cast the
son into the fire or cast him into the water or he would have
uncontrollable behavior and the apostles couldn't help him. And
so the man brought the son to Christ and said to the Lord Jesus
Christ, if thou canst do anything have compassion on us and help
us. Help us. Now he had a need. He had a very, very serious need.
And my question is, what is your need? What do you need help with? Some people think I've got some
financial problems that are just drowning me right now. I've got
a I've got a relationship issue in my marriage with my children
or with somebody that's just awful. I need help. I've got
a health problem that's that's that's life threatening and I've
got to have help and God will help us in those things. But
is that the real need that we is? Was that the need that this
man had? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
said to him, if thou canst believe. All things are possible to them
that believe. And what did that man say? Lord,
I believe, help thou my unbelief. There was the root of his problem.
And there is the root of your problem and my problem. It is
the sin that does so easily beset us. It is the fountain of all
of our other problems. Unbelief. Turn to me to Hebrews chapter
12. You see, this is where we need God's help. Help thou mine
unbelief. Because the truth is that if
we believed God as we ought, we wouldn't have any problems. All those other things that we
see us needing help with, would dissolve because we would be
resting in perfect faith in the one who has all things under
control. That's our problem. Our problem
is not our children, it's not our finances, it's not even our
health. It's our unbelief. It's the sin. You know what Hebrews chapter
11 is, it's a list of faithful believers of the Old Testament. And then in chapter 12, the Lord
says to me and you, wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with such a great cloud of witnesses. Now, You go back
in the Old Testament on any of these characters that are mentioned
in Hebrews chapter 11, and you will find a lot of unbelief in
their behavior and a lot of trouble that they brought on themselves
because of their unbelief. But here they're listed as having
perfect faith. How could it be? Because here
they're seen in Christ. in Christ. You see, all believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ have perfect faith. But just like
these Old Testament saints, the unbelief that we suffer as a
result of the flesh that we bear and the circumstances that God's
put us in causes a lot of trial and trouble in our life. If thou canst believe, all things
are possible to them that believe. Lord, help thou mine unbelief. There's my problem. There's my
problem. It's my unbelief. And so the
Lord says, seeing that you are compassed about with such a great
cloud of witnesses, all these believers are just like you. Let us. Lay aside every weight. And, uh, the sin, the sin that
doth so easily beset us. Now for years, I thought this
verse meant, you know, I've got a particular sin that easily
besets me. And you've got a particular sin that easily besets you. And
our sins are different depending on our, you know, our, our whatever. That's not it. There is one sin
that easily besets each and every one of us, and it is the cause
of all our other sins. It's unbelief. So when we cry to God for help, yes, the Lord's concerned about
those circumstances. He's in control of them, whatever
they might be for you and for me. But the real root of our
problem is that sin that doth so easily beset each and every
one of us, the sin of unbelief. That's where that father had
to be brought. Oh Lord, help thou mine unbelief. There's where my problem is.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race set before
us, looking unto Jesus. There's faith. Looking unto Jesus,
who is the author and finisher of faith. He's the one that will
give you faith. He's the one that will sustain
you in faith. He's the one that will keep you
in the faith. Looking unto Jesus, looking unto his glorious person,
looking to his successful accomplished work of redemption, looking to
him seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, ever
living to make intercession for us, looking to Christ. You think God, you think he's
worried about the things that we worry about? No, no, he's
not. He's the author and the finisher
of faith. Who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat
down at the right hand of God, the right hand of the throne
of God. So when the Lord Jesus Christ was on Calvary's cross,
he cried out to the father, father, help me, help me deliver me. And in crying to the father for
help, he was, he was thoroughly convinced that the father heard
his cry and would answer his cry. He had perfect faith in
crying to the father for help. So what do we do? Lay aside the
weight and that sin, which suss so easily beset us looking onto
Jesus. the author and finisher of all
true faith. Go back, go with me if you will
now to. Psalm 118. We'll go back to verse five that
we looked at Wednesday night. I called upon the Lord in distress. In distress. Now, that word distress means
I've got no place else to go. I'm between a rock and a hard
place. I've got no options available to me. I can't go talk to the
banker and work out, you know, a refinance. I can't, you know,
go to a counselor and get help with my relationship problems.
The doctors can't help me. I'm in distress. This is the
Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, and this is you and I
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I can't do anything about
this sin problem I have. I can't make myself believe. I can't put away my sin. I can't
save myself. I'm in distress. And I cried
unto the Lord in my distress, and He put me into a large place. The language here in this one
verse is, I'm in a pinch, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard
place, I've got no place to go, I can't turn around, and now
the Lord's put me in this broad place. What is the broad place
He's put us in? All the depth and the breath
and the width and the height of his mercy and have his love
toward us in Christ Jesus. What a broad place. To be taken from the spread distress
and put into that broad place does not mean that your circumstances
are going to change. It doesn't mean all of a sudden
you're going to have a windfall financially. It doesn't mean
that all of a sudden everybody's going to love you and God's going
to heal you. That's not what it means. It
means that I called unto Lord in my distress. I had no place
else to go. I called unto Him. And he delivered
me and put me into a broad place. He enabled me to look unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of faith. He helped me. Look at the next
verse. Look at the next verse. The Lord
is on my side. I will not fear what man can
do unto me. See, man's still opposed to me.
I'm still opposed to myself. The man that I struggle with
more than any other man is this man. And do you know anything
about faith? And about your own sin? You know
that's your experience as well. Young people, it's not your parents
that are making you do things. It's not your spouse. It's not
your employer. It's not your child. It's that
man, isn't it? There's my problem. The Lord says, the Lord's on
my side. What's it? If God be for me, who can be
against me? Who is he that justifies? Who
is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies. It
is Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again. He sits in it
at the right hand of God. Faith enables me to set my affections
on Christ and rest in Him, and He puts me in a broad place.
My circumstances may not change, but my heart's changed. You know,
the truth is, I wrote a little article in your bulletin this
morning. The truth is that you and I are capable of changing
our behavior. We are. You can turn over a new leaf.
You can stop doing some things that are self-destructive and
start doing some things that you should be doing. You're capable
of changing your behavior. Man's even capable of changing
his attitude. You can get some therapy and
some counseling and you can suffer the consequences of your own
bad attitude enough where you decide one day, you know, I'm
just going to have a different attitude. I'm going to have a
better attitude about things and about people. You can change
your looks. You can change your outward appearances.
You cannot change your heart. You can't change your heart.
Only God can do that. And that's where our problem
is. It's out of the heart that flows these evil thoughts and
all this sin comes from the heart. God has to change the heart.
He has to give us a broken and contrite heart. Oh Lord, David
said in Psalm 51, thou will not despise. Why will not despise?
Why will God not despise a broken and contrite heart? Because he
gave it and he accepts that which he gives. We come before him,
Lord. I've got to have Christ, help
me. I'm so full of unbelief. And
every time I think I have faith, I turn right around and it slips
away and I'm back in my unbelief. You see, this is a cry that believers
are crying all the time. Lord, help me. Help thou my unbelief. I can't get away from myself.
You have that problem? The Lord Jesus Christ in Psalm
118 is crying out to the Father to help him and deliver him from
death. And because the Father answered
him, the Father answers all those who come to him in Christ. Believing that Christ got the
victory, that the Father honored his son, And God honors those
who honor Christ. We look to Christ. The sin that
does so easily beset us is the sin of unbelief. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that
was set before him, he knew. that the father would raise him
from the dead. He knew that he'd be ascended back into glory.
He knew that he would take his rightful place at the right hand
of the majesty on high. And for the joy that was set
before him, he endured the shame of the cross. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in
all ways that we are tempted, yet without sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, you say,
well, does that mean that Christ was tempted to sin like I'm tempted
to sin? No, no. It means that he felt and experienced. You see, in our temptations,
we sin, don't we? We only know that we're being
tempted because we're sinning in our hearts. And our conscience
convicts us that this temptation is really the sin. No, and it's
the shame and the guilt that we experience as a result of
those temptations, isn't it? What the scripture means when
it says in Hebrews chapter 4 that we have not a high priest who
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in
all ways tempted as we are? He experienced the full shame
and the full guilt and the full darkness and blackness of sin
when he bore the sins of his people in his body on Calvary's
cross. You and I have never experienced
temptation like he experienced. Yet he was without sin. It was our sin that he was bearing
the shame and the guilt and the burden of. That's where the real,
he knew temptation like you and I have never known temptation.
Yet he himself was without sin. And what's the next verse say?
Let us therefore come confidently, boldly before the throne of grace
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time
of need. You need help? Need help with
your unbelief? We've got a high priest who is
able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he experienced our sin
when he bore them on Calvary's cross. He knows sin to its fullest
extent. You and I just know a little
bit of it, don't we? That's when he cried, my God,
my God, whilst thou forsaken me, why art thou so far from
helping me? And when the Lord Jesus Christ
cried that, the father wasn't helping him. The father had forsaken
him. But in faith, he was convinced
that when he bowed his head and declared that it was finished,
father into thy hands, I commend my spirit. I'm convinced now
that you're going to help me because I've been faithful. And
we're convinced that the Father would help us with our unbelief
because Christ was faithful. Hosea chapter 13 verse 9 says,
O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. And, you know, Robert, you were
talking about the garden and Eve blaming God for, you know,
Adam blaming God for Eve. We've been playing the blame
game ever since, haven't we? It's so easy for us to point
our finger at our circumstances or at someone else and say, well,
you know, look what you're causing me. Here's what God says. Oh, Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself. Your sin has separated you from
your God. What is my sin? It's unbelief.
That's the root of my sin. But, oh, I'm so thankful for
God's buts. But in me is thine help. You've destroyed yourself. Your
unbelief is your own fault. Help thou mine unbelief, Lord,
in me is thine help. Come boldly before the throne
of grace to find help in time of need. There's no help in the
law. The Lord tells us in Isaiah chapter
31, he says, don't go back to Egypt. Egypt is no help to you. Man is no help to you. Princes
are no help to you. They can't help you. I'm the
only one that can help you. Look at our text in Psalm 118. The Lord, verse 6, the Lord is
on my side. I will not fear what man can
do unto me. The Lord taketh my part with
them that help me. I had to struggle with that verse
because This is the Lord, the Lord taking my part with them
that helped me. And I actually looked up this verse word for
word in the Hebrew lexicon. And here's a, here's an interpreter.
Here's a, here's the literal meaning of this verse. Yahweh
is for me as my helper. Yahweh is for me as my helper. I will look in triumph on all
those who hate me. Yahweh is for me, all my help. Is he for you? It is better to trust in the
Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in
the Lord than to put confidence in princes." Now, we looked last
week at Romans chapter 13, and we're to honor the king, and
we're to obey the governing authorities. But, and I don't want to speak
disparagingly of any of them in particular, but if we've learned
anything over these last couple of months, we've learned that
they don't know much more about what's going on than we do, do
they? I mean, they're doing their best with what they can with
what they've got, but they don't know what's going on. We're not gonna trust in Put
our trust and our faith in princes or in man. It's better to trust
the Lord. Honor the king, obey the governing
authorities, but put your trust in Christ. Isaiah chapter 50. Will you turn
with me there? Isaiah chapter 50. Look at verse 7. For the Lord
God will help me. Therefore, shall I not be confounded? That's our problem, isn't it?
Just being confounded, being disquieted and confused and confounded
and upset. Thinking that things are out
of control. Really, the problem is our unbelief. I'm not trusting
man. I'm not gonna trust in princes.
I'm gonna trust in the Lord. It's better. It's better. And
when God gives us grace to trust in Christ, we shall not be confounded. Therefore, have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Now,
the Lord Jesus quoted this verse in the New Testament when he
said he set his face like flint towards Jerusalem. He was going
to the cross, and nothing would deter him, distract him, or interrupt
his purpose of redemption for his people. Okay, verse 8. He is near that justifies me. Who will contend with me? Let
us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him
come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. Who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old
as a garment. The moth shall eat them up. Lord, help me. Help me. Do you need God? This isn't a
come alongside and assist me. This isn't, you know, give me
a helping hand so that we can do this thing together. This
is a desperate cry of distress. Lord, I'm dying. Help me. I can't help myself. I can't
just decide I'm going to have faith and you get you got to
give me faith. I can't set my affections on
things above. I can't trust in Christ. I can't see him. Lord,
you're going to have to open the eyes of my understanding.
You're going to have to unstop my ears. You're going to have
to take out this heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh.
I'm the cause of my own problem. Paul, we revere him so much and
so thankful for his ministry. And when he said, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptations, Christ Jesus came into the world
to save centers of whom I was chief back when I was in rebellion
against God. No of whom I am chief. I'm the problem. It's my sin
problem. Nobody else's. Help me, oh Lord God, Psalm 109,
verse 26. Save me according to thy mercy. He has mercy on the needy. We do what we want to do, don't
we? We really do. And what we want to do is generally
driven by what we need to do. And if we don't have a need,
we don't have a want. You see, when God puts on your
heart your own sin and you realize that it's your unbelief, Lord,
I've got a need. I've got a need. I've got, you've
got to help me. You've got to save me. That's
all we're saying. This word help me is the same
as save me, deliver me. You remember in Matthew chapter
15, that Syrophoenician woman, she came to the Lord with a child.
I mean, these people had genuine needs with their children. What
breaks a parent's heart any more than to have a need with their
own children? Lord, help us. My daughter is
possessed with a demon. And the scripture says, she said,
she cried unto the Lord, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son
of David. And the scripture says, he answered
her not a word. He ignored her. You ever cried
unto the Lord to have him ignore you? Sure you have. You know
why he does that? To try the sincerity of your
cry. Had she said, well, he's going
to ignore me and got puffed up and walked away? It would have
been over. And then the disciples added
more shame to her when they said publicly, Lord, send her away. She pursueth after us. Look at
that. She's embarrassing everybody. Just send her away. And the Lord said, adding more
insult to injury, I am not come but for the lost sheep of Israel.
It is not right that I should give the children's bread unto
dogs. So now this poor woman, crying
for mercy, acknowledging the Lord Jesus as the Son of David,
the Christ, the deliverer, who ignored her, disciples shamed
her, and now he calls her a dog. What would you have done? What
would you have done? Most folks would have just got
puffed up and mad and walked away. Why didn't she? Because she had a need. And she worshipped him and said,
Lord, help me. Truth, Lord. That's what I meant.
I'm a dog. I don't deserve your attention.
I ought to be sent away. But Lord,
I need help. I need help. And the Lord said, I've not found
such faith in all of Israel. Your faith. Has made you whole. Psalm 72 verse 12. He shall deliver
the needy when he crieth the poor also. He shall be their
helper. Are you needy? Are you poor? Feel like God's ignored you?
Keep crying. Lord help me. Help down my unbelief. That's where my real problem
is. My real problem is not with that person over there or that
person over there or this situation or that situation. Truth Lord,
I'm a dog. I don't deserve your attention.
Help thou mine unbelief. And I cried unto the Lord in
my distress and he put me into a large place. Oh, what comfort,
what grace to find help in our time of need. The poor. When scripture speaks of being
poor, it means you've got nothing. Nothing. You're naked before
God without two pennies to rub together. You've got nothing.
No. And it's not talking about our financial situation. It's
talking about our righteousness. Lord, I've got no righteousness.
I've got no, I've got no claim on you. I've got nothing to offer
you to obligate you to save me or to help me. The poor committed
himself unto thee for thou art the helper of the fatherless. Those have got no place else
to go. I called upon the Lord in my distress. I had no place
to go. I've come to see that my problem
is my unbelief. My problem is I'm not trusting
Christ. I'm not looking unto Jesus. Hebrews 13, six, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say, the Lord
is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. That's what we need, brethren,
isn't it? We need God's help. Nobody else's. We need God's
help. When he helps us, we've been
helped. Our merciful heavenly father. We come into thy holy presence
before thy throne of grace, thanking you. That you answered the prayers
of your dear son. We would not dare. Come into
your holy presence apart The Lord Jesus Christ as our
righteousness. All of our justification before
they. We confess to you, Lord, that our problem is our unbelief. Help us, Lord, help us. We ask
it in Christ name. Number 37 spiral hymnal. Let's
stand together. Approach, my soul, the throne
of grace in every time of need. There's mercy for the needy one
who Jesus named. Though I'm a weak and sinful
wretch, I will approach the throne. I'll lean upon Christ's mighty
arm and plead His blood alone. The blood, the precious blood
of Christ has opened up the way by which I can draw near to God
and to my Father pray. Though Satan tempts my heart
to sin, I'll call upon my God. And when I fall, he'll lift me
up and cleanse me in the blood. The way is open. God will hear my groans and cries
of grief. Nothing can keep me from His
throne but my own unbelief. O Lord, my unbelief remove, and
turn my heart by grace. Compel me to approach your throne,
and there spread out my case.